Storm
by Gridmaster
Summary: Caught in a summer storm and locked out of her house, Cindy can only think of one place to keep dry.


"Oh no!" Cindy rattled the door knob again, pushing her wet hair out of her face. It was no use; the door remained locked. She gazed at her front door in dismay, futilely launching a kick at it. When she'd left that afternoon for Nick and Brittney's party at the park, she'd thought her parents would still be home. Her house keys were still on the nightstand, where she'd dropped them the night before.

Thunder rumbled ominously; the sudden downpour that had halted the party showed no signs of stopping as unexpectedly as it started. Whimpering, Cindy hunkered down on her front steps, prepared to wait out the storm. She could just barely make out the Neutron's house across the street through the heavy rain. The faint red light on the front of Jimmy's old clubhouse caught her eye.

"I wonder…"

"Cindy, meet me at the lab. There's something I want to show you!" Cindy grinned at her boyfriend's enthusiasm; it was probably another of his fantastic inventions, which meant there was probably another fantastic adventure waiting for them. She quickly fixed her hair, slicked on a thin layer of lip gloss, and crossed the street.

Jimmy was waiting outside his lab, almost dancing with anticipation. "Over here!"

"What did you want to show me? Ow!" she exclaimed as Jimmy reached behind her, pulling out one of her long blonde hairs. "What's the big idea, Neutron?" She glared at him, hands on her eleven-year-old hips.

"Just watch, Cindy!" He held the hair up to the DNA scanner on the left of the door.

Cindy narrowed her eyes. The last time she'd tried that, a trick panel under the welcome mat had sent her flying, landing three blocks away.

"Scanning…identified. Subject: Cindy Neutron," VOX's computerized voice announced. Cindy raised an eyebrow as the door slid open.

"Cindy _Neutron_?"

Jimmy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Eheh…I, uh, still have a few kinks to work out in the programming. But, look!" He pointed at the open door. "You now have a privilege no one else does, not Sheen, not Carl, not even my parents: full access to my lab." A blush spread across his cheeks. "You know, in case you ever want to, I don't know, come visit me when I'm working?"

"Jimmy, that's so…sweet. Dorky, but sweet." She'd kissed him then, before the two of them set off on another wild adventure.

She stared at the tiny red glow across the street. _It's been seven years. He probably reprogrammed it years ago._

_Still, you're already soaked. What can it hurt to see?_

Cindy glanced at the locked door behind her, then stood. Casually, she crossed the street, staying out of sight of the main house. When she stood in front of the closed clubhouse door, she took a deep breath, then plucked a wet strand of hair.

"Scanning." Cindy held her breath, prepared for the worst. "Identified. Subject: Cindy Neutron." Cindy felt her jaw drop as the door slid open, revealing the dry, warm interior of the lab.

_He never reprogrammed it…not even the name._ She wandered inside, taking in her surroundings. This lab used to be a second home to her; she couldn't count the number of afternoons she'd spent here, watching and helping Jimmy with his fantastic inventions. On the surface, things looked unchanged, but as she explored, she noticed things. Some equipment was upgraded, some was updated, and most was modified to fit his changing body. The chair that fit her perfectly at eleven was now almost too big for her; Jimmy's body had finally caught up to his head.

The biggest and most obvious change to the lab was a small living area off to one side. Her fingers trailed along the dark green upholstery on the couch as she moved towards the narrow twin bed. _Has he moved out of his parents' house and into the lab?_ Cindy shivered a little, her wet clothes feeling colder in the warmth of the lab. "VOX, where's Jimmy?" she asked, hoping the voice recognition was still active.

"Subject: Jimmy Neutron is at Pomona ASP."

"For how long?"

"Estimated time of return: two hours."

"Thank you, VOX." Cindy shivered again; she was sure she felt a breeze. A quick look around revealed an air vent a few feet away. "Two hours…okay." She pulled the top blanket off the bed, wrapping it around her shoulders. Ever aware of the lab's video surveillance, she kept the blanket around her as she worked her wet khaki shorts and green silk tank top off, spreading them on the floor by the air vent.

Cindy pulled the blanket around her a bit tighter, absently sniffing the cotton. It smelled like Jimmy's soap, like the faint metallic chemical scent that always seemed to be around him, even at age eleven, and just like Jimmy, in general. Smelling it again, she was struck at how much she'd missed that scent since they'd drifted apart. She perched on the edge of the bed, then gave into the weight of the day, stretching out and quickly falling into a deep, dream-filled sleep.

Jimmy raced through the rain, hoping to get from the driveway to the lab without getting totally soaked. A flash drive in his pocked contained the data from today's experiment misfire, and he was anxious to get to his computer to figure out where the weather machine went wrong. He paused at the door just long enough to activate the DNA scanner, then hurried inside and to his computer. So intent on getting to the data, he didn't notice the damp footprints leading to the lab.

He had just inserted the drive into the computer and pulled up the data when he heard something unusual: a soft, breathy sigh, almost a snore, but not quite there. His back went rigid; his ears pricked, listening for it again.

_There's someone in my lab. Someone…sleeping?_ Brow furrowed, he slowly turned his chair around to look towards the living area. His eyes scanned the room, looking for anything out of place, anything he might have been too preoccupied to notice earlier. His attention was caught by a splash of bright green on the floor near an air vent. He got out of his chair and crossed the room, crouching to pick up the material.

It was a tank top, a women's tank top, still slightly damp, the silk wrinkled and stiffening from the water. A pair of khaki shorts, also damp, were on the floor next to it. _Girls' clothes…there's a girl in my lab?_ Curiosity already high, a movement on the bed drew his attention. A tangle of pale blonde hair peeked out from above the dark cotton blanket, and as the figure shifted, so did the blanket, revealing a long, well-toned leg and thigh.

Jimmy gulped, recognizing that leg. It was _only_ attached to the girl of his dreams, the girl so briefly his, back when they were too young to realize what they had. "Cindy Vortex is in her underwear, in my bed," he murmured in disbelief. Possibilities, situations, scenarios of why she was there raced through his head, each one more fantastic than the other, until the logic center of his brain managed to forcibly wrest control back from the red-blooded eighteen-year-old male portion of his brain.

_Logic, Neutron, logic. Your weather machine malfunctioned, causing a sudden storm. Wet clothing. Wet hair. She needed to get out of the rain._

_But why here?_ Jimmy glanced back at the bare leg, trying not to look any higher or will the blanket to slip more. He quickly crossed over to a terminal and called up a command. "VOX, execute wardrobe change CV-28 at coordinates 32 alpha, 76 beta." Turning his back, just in case the wardrobe tube had a modesty subroutine malfunction, he waited until the final whoosh subsided before turning around.

Cindy, still asleep, was now dressed in black yoga pants, a white tank top, and a green workout hoodie. Satisfied that he was safe from accidental ogling—and a beating if Cindy woke and caught him at it—he went back to his data, letting her sleep, only occasionally glancing her way as data compiled.

Hours later, Cindy woke from a deep dream featuring Jimmy, herself, and a giant blow drier feeling more rested than she had in months. She yawned and stretched, catching herself before slipping off the edge of the bed. _Wait, my bed's not so narrow…oh. Right. Oh no!_ She sat up quickly. "VOX, what time is it?"

"It's almost nine p.m."

Cindy froze; that wasn't VOX's computerized voice. "Jimmy?"

"Yeah." He stood up from the couch where he'd been watching a movie, the sound turned down so as not to disturb her.

"How long have you been there?"

"Um, about four hours now."

"You didn't wake me?"

Jimmy shrugged. "You looked like you needed the sleep."

"Oh." Cindy started to put her hands in her pockets, then realized what she was wearing. "How did I…?"

"VOX's wardrobe function." He tried not to blush. "You were, um, in danger of losing the blanket. I thought you'd appreciate it."

"Thank you." Cindy stared at her knees, unsure of how to proceed. "Is the storm over?"

"Almost." A sheepish expression crossed his face. "I'm sorry about that, by the way. I was testing a new weather machine, and someone changed a few settings. It was only supposed to produce a mild breeze, and only in the test area."

Cindy smiled. "I should have guessed you had something to do with it. But…"

"But?" he prompted, curious as to what she was going to say.

"But it's been so long since I've been a part of your li…uh, scientific circle, that I don't know what you're working on anymore." Cindy hoped it didn't sound as wistful to him as it did to her.

"Oh." _Wait, did she just say she missed me? No, she couldn't have…could she?_

"I was locked out."

"Locked out?"

"Of my house," she clarified. "I was at Nick and Brittney's party, and the storm sort of broke it up, and my parents had gone somewhere, locking the house. I didn't have my keys; I saw the light over here, and…" She shrugged. "I was cold, and wet, and I thought maybe you hadn't reprogrammed the scanner."

"You remembered the scanner?"

Her face softened. "Of course I remember. It was the sweetest thing anyone ever did for me."

Jimmy felt a strange thrill pass through him. "Really?"

Cindy nodded, smiling softly. "Really. No one has _ever_ given me anything that special." She shifted a little on the bed.

"Cindy?" Jimmy took a deep breath and met her eyes. "Why did we break up when we were kids?"

"Because…" She frowned. "I thought you wanted to. I was distracting you from your work."

"I thought you wanted to. I thought you were embarrassed by my inventions…and how they didn't always work the way I intended them to."

"Well, the instant shower-in-a-can that dissolved my clothing, that I was embarrassed by, but Jimmy, your inventions are part of you." She kept her eyes locked on his. "I loved you, and by extension, your inventions."

His breath caught at her admission. "You loved me?"

Cindy nodded. "I wanted to tell you then, but…things got hard, and you started pulling away, and I didn't want to sound desperate. If I'd known…"

"If you'd known…what?"

"If I'd known that we would barely talk to each other for the next six years, I'd have told you then." She gave a small shrug. "I'm not as image-obsessed as I was then. I kind of had to learn the hard way, but at least I learned."

"Cindy…." Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't know. If you'd told me, maybe I wouldn't have pulled away. No," he shook his head, "I take that back. If you'd told me how you felt, I _know_ I wouldn't have pulled away. I only did because I thought you wanted to. I wanted to try to make it easier for both of us." His lips quirked into the familiar half-grin. "'Cause I loved you, too, and I didn't want it to hurt so much when you left."

Cindy laughed wryly. "What a pair we are. Neither of us said anything, so we both lost out." She glanced at him, a mischievous grin spreading across her lips. "I should have guessed by how you programmed VOX."

Jimmy laughed aloud. "Oh, yeah. That should have been a dead giveaway."

Voice softer, she added, "And you never did reprogram it."

Taking a chance, Jimmy stood up, crossing the small distance between them, sitting next to her on the bed. "I hoped I wouldn't have to." He took her hands in his, rubbing his thumbs across the tops of her hands. "I hoped it would be, well, accurate someday."

Cindy couldn't look away from the honesty in his blue eyes. "Jimmy…could we, maybe, try again?"

"Maybe…if we're both totally honest with each other." He moved a little closer to her. "I still…I still love you, Cindy."

"I still love you, Jimmy," she whispered, a heartbeat before their lips touched.

She lost herself in his kiss, arms around him, feeling him against her. It was different from their tentative, pre-teen kisses of the past, hungrier, hotter, needier. He held her tightly, not wanting to let go, not now that they were together again. As one, they sank back onto the narrow mattress, just holding each other, letting their lips reacquaint themselves. She pressed against him, savoring the feel of him, how different he was now…how much better he felt.

Jimmy stroked her hair, dry now, soft, and still jasmine-scented. _I was an idiot for letting you go then…I won't make the same mistake again._

Cindy cuddled against him, feeling his heart beating next to hers. "Did anyone happen to mention to you the college I chose?"

"No…I heard you'd been accepted to Harvard, and Yale, and Stanford, though."

"I was…." She reached up to run her fingers through his thick hair. "I didn't choose any of those, though."

"Where _did_ you choose?"

"Well…" She let her fingers trail down the side of his face, finally resting on his shoulder. "I chose someplace a little closer to home…at least, to my heart's home."

Jimmy frowned. "Okay, you lost me."

Cindy giggled. "You never did manage to get an artistic side, did you?" She touched his foot with her bare toes. "Lucky for you, I let my scientific side grow in high school." She kissed him softly, lightly, before telling him, "I'm going to Pomona ASP, starting in the fall."

"Pomona? Really?"

"Mmhmm." She let him kiss her again before pulling back enough to tell him, "I'd planned to track you down there, and see if we couldn't start again."

Jimmy grinned, giving her a squeeze. "Guess you started your homework early."

Cindy giggled. "Well, if your weather machine hadn't malfunctioned, I would never have come over here."

"Thank goodness for faulty programming."


End file.
